1.Prologue
The theme for the December 20th episode of Sekai e Hasshin! SNS Eigojutsu was #TinyHouse. We looked at the tiny house movement, which advocates for simple, minimalist living in spaces less than 400 square feet (about 37 square meters).
The tiny house movement grew in the 2000s as a reaction against consumerism and became popular among younger generations in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis and recession. Its core values include financial responsibility and freedom (from housing loans and the costs related to maintaining a house), freedom from material things, and an eco-conscious and sustainable lifestyle that leaves a minimal ecological footprint. Ever since the industrial age, the driving force of the American economy and society has been “bigger is better", but the tiny house movement emphasizes “less is more".
The movement has spread worldwide to places like the U.K., Germany, New Zealand, and Australia. Millennials especially have been busy posting pictures and updates of their tiny houses (and tiny houses in progress) to Instagram and other social media platforms. We featured a few on the show.
In this article, I’d like to look at how the tiny house movement reflects a shift in the American Dream across generations.
2.Baby Boomers and McMansions
Why has the tiny house movement resonated with so many of the millennial generation? To understand why, we must look at the environment millennials grew up in, and consider the lifestyle example set by their parents—the baby boomer generation.
Among the baby boomers, here I would like to focus on white, middle-class parents and their families. For years, these parents had sacrificed their own personal happiness so their children could have the material comforts they never had; it was only natural that they would want to live in a large, comfortable home that reflected the material gains they had made. Their needs facilitated the rise of a larger home concept that lay between the upscale houses found in well-to-do gated communities and modest suburban tract housing.
Due to property taxes and the lack of available land around cities, these homes were often mass-produced on the outskirts of cities, even further away than suburban tract housing. They were constructed using low-quality materials and shoddy craftsmanship, with exteriors characterized by a jumbled mess of architectural influences meant to create the perception of wealth or good taste.
These oversized homes eventually came to be called McMansions, a pejorative term that associated the generic feel of the homes to the fast food of the McDonald’s restaurant chain. In other words, the houses were not a manifestation of the joy of good living, but rather were all about the need for instant gratification.
Side note, in English, the word mansion refers to “a very large, impressive, or stately residence”. In Japanese, however, the katakana transliteration manshon (マンション) refers to a large building with many apartments. More specifically, an apaato (アパート) is a small-scale apartment building usually constructed of wood or lightweight steel, while a manshon is a large-scale apartment building constructed using materials like reinforced concrete. In American English, these are usually referred to as condominiums.
3.Crushed by Student Loans
The biggest reason millennials are drawn to tiny houses and simple living is the prospect of financial freedom. An entire generation is being strangled by student debt, which is increasingly becoming seen as a national crisis. Tiny houses represent an affordable living environment that allows owners to focus on repaying student loans and reestablishing control over their finances sooner than later.
That brings up the question, why did the student debt crisis ever reach this stage to begin with? To understand why this has become the bane of many a millennial’s existence, we must look at the government policies that were enacted as a result of the success and affluence attained by the baby boomers.
For a long time, a college education was something reserved for elites and well-to-do members of society. In the latter half of the 20th century, that would change.
In 1944, just as World War II was coming to an end, the U.S. government passed the G.I. Bill, which provided benefits for returning veterans such as low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business, and payments of tuition and living expenses to attend high school, college, or vocational school. Then the Higher Education Act of 1965 was passed "to strengthen the educational resources of our colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance for students in postsecondary and higher education". More specifically, it increased the amount of federal money given to universities and created grants and low-interest loans for students. In the 70s and 80s, the government passed law after law that expanded eligibility and eliminated income requirements, making it easier for middle and low-income households to apply for loans.
However, in the late 80s, the conservative government of President Ronald Reagan greatly reduced government expenditure, eliminated federal regulations, and cut taxes. That coincided with a philosophical shift away from federal investment in higher education, and toward the idea of individual responsibility.
As a result, tuition has risen significantly at both public and private universities. This, coupled with the rising cost of living and the fact that household income has remained stagnant for about twenty years, means that many students have no choice but to take out sizable loans in order to attend college. And they’re spending more and more time and energy after graduating trying to pay back those loans.
4.The Millennial American Dream
So exactly how much does it cost to purchase a tiny house?
The average price of a house in the U.S. is around 285,000 dollars, while the average cost of a tiny house is 60,000 dollars. If you’re DIY-inclined (as many millennials are), you can make your own “home sweet home" for about half the budget. Spending less on a house means being able to spend more to pay off student debt.
Once you’ve paid off your student loans and obtained financial freedom, you can start saving up money for the things that are truly important to you. Many millennials use their savings to start their own businesses. Not content to sacrifice personal wellbeing for the sake of material gains for society and family, more and more are choosing instead to pursue work that truly makes them happy. In other words, they are looking for freedom as members of the workforce.
For those who are able to work remotely, a tiny house also means geographical freedom. The millennial generation loves to travel, prefers to be untethered to a specific physical space, and values experiences over material things—an alternative vision of the American Dream that they share with the Beat Generation writers of the 1950s. They seek out adventure as embodied by Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, Americans on the whole have long worshipped at the altar of “bigger is better". In contrast, millennials and younger generations increasingly value the experience of a living space rather than the sheer floorspace available; they look for quality of happiness, not quantity. Unfulfilled by baby boomers’ pursuit of material freedom, they do not buy into the notion of housing as the ultimate status symbol, and do not see a huge house as a sign of success.
The shift in values also partly explains the “KonMari" craze of the past few years. Her message resonates with the millennial generation.
Although the values and philosophical differences between the baby boomers and millennials are in some respects vast, at the core of their worldviews is the idea of freedom. The American Dream has always been, and will always be, about obtaining freedom.
In recent years, millennials and other younger generations have practically made it a habit to blame the problems they currently face—student loans, social issues, environmental issues—on baby boomers and their irresponsible pursuit of consumerism. This rejection is best summed up by the phrase “OK boomer", which exploded in popularity throughout 2019.
Gaps between generations will always exist, and the rebellious attitude embodied by phrases like “OK Boomer" feels natural and even healthy given everything that America stands for. But it’s important to recognize that the difference in values that I’ve outlined in this article is also what has divided America into two sides that are entrenched in their beliefs and all too eager to dismiss what the other has to say. As more and more baby boomers retire from the workforce, it falls upon millennials not to simply reject the past or kill it, but to take responsibility for all members of society, whether they agree with their beliefs or not. These are the thoughts that crossed my millennial mind as we did our episode on #TinyHouse.
